Mark Bultman, project manager of HGA Architects and Engineers, talks to audience members last week during a community forum about the new Northeast Georgia Medical Center hospital planned in Braselton. Photo by Kerri Testement

It may largely be bare land now — but come three years, it’ll likely be a beautiful healthcare campus that’s home to Northeast Georgia Health System’s new hospital in Braselton.

Taking comments from a packed room of residents at the Spout Springs Library in South Hall, the health system hosted the first in a series of forums intended to get public opinions about the new hospital campus on Tuesday, Jan. 10.

And judging by some of the comments, the possibilities for the 119-acre property are endless.

“I wish to see gardens, water fountains (and) maybe walking trails that you can view from the patient’s room, especially from the intensive care unit and things like that, to promote a sense of well-being,” said one man from the audience.

One woman said she didn’t think that a hospital designed with modern architecture would fit in well with the character of the area, which is predominately rural with older architectural features.

Another woman asked architects working on the healthcare campus plans to preserve as much of the land as possible, while a man suggested that it reflect the history of Georgia — including its colonial and confederate past. Parking arrangements and even detailed suggestions for lighting in patient rooms were also tossed around by the audience members.

The wide-ranging comments were enough for one man to joke that it sounded like area residents were planning a resort.

“So, everything we’re asking for — all of these amenities, valet parking, Starbucks and everything else — ultimately, we’re the customer and we’re going to be paying for it,” he said.

Lora Strigens, an architect in urban design working on the campus plans, said the meeting was intended to be a “blue sky” discussion of the possibilities for the property.

“At the end of the day, just as you evaluate what you’d spend your money on, the hospital system, as well, is going to evaluate what will bring the most value to you as a healthcare consumer,” she said.

The Gainesville-based health system is in the process of planning its healthcare campus in Braselton, according to Tracy Vardeman, vice president of strategic planning and marketing for Northeast Georgia Health System.

To support that effort, the health system has scheduled a series of forums in January that will garner public comments about its plans for the Braselton property. It is also seeking feedback through an online survey at www.nghs.com/riverplace.

Northeast Georgia Health System plans to make its property located on Thompson Mill Road (Ga. Hwy. 347), next to The Village at Deaton Creek, a “healthcare destination.”

The 119-acre campus is called River Place in Braselton and the new 100-bed Northeast Georgia Medical Center hospital will be just one part of that complex.

The first building on the campus — Medical Plaza 1 — opened in 2008 and includes 22 physician offices, an imaging center, a pharmacy, a laboratory, rehabilitation services and Urgent Care. A second medical office building is expected to open before the hospital.

Northeast Georgia Health System officials plan to break ground on the new hospital next fall with it opening possibly in early 2015.

Meanwhile, the Georgia Department of Transportation plans to start construction to widen and realign Thompson Mill Road next summer. The portion of that road project by the hospital is expected to be finished by opening day at the facility, but health system officials are eyeing potential alternatives for traffic in the area.

The health system selected HGA Architects and Engineers is its architect for the Braselton campus. The HGA team working on the Northeast Georgia Health System project is based in Milwaukee and has previously worked on new hospital plans in Texas, New Jersey and Missouri.

“A big component that drew us to HGA was the focus on the patient,” Vardeman said.

The design team will have the opportunity to work on a “pioneer site” — one that is largely vacant, according to Vardeman. The architects and engineers are talking to patients, physicians, staff and community members about possibilities for the Braselton campus.

Strigens, of HGA, said she will focus on how the site relates to the community and develop a long-term vision. She pointed to a lakefront amphitheater that she helped design for a children’s museum that has been a big community draw in Milwaukee.

Health system officials have said that the campus in Braselton may include non-medical amenities, such as gardens, trails and retail shops.

For its medical-based services in Braselton, the health system is still studying the possibilities, according to Vardeman. It is unlikely that the South Hall campus will open with open-heart surgery — a service that has earned Northeast Georgia top honors in the state at its hospital in Gainesville.

“That’s the type of service that you really want to consolidate in an area where you’re going to have to scale the volume of patients so that you can be as efficient as we’ve proven ourselves to be,” Vardeman said. “Now that doesn’t mean that we can’t have a very strong center of excellence in cardiology. Many of our same providers are in Braselton. They are committed to growing their practices there, too. We’re really looking at what kinds of services that we can have and we’re exploring it right now.”

Upcoming Hospital Forums
Northeast Georgia Medical Center will hold community forums on its new hospital campus plans in Braselton, called River Place, on the following dates:

•Tuesday, Jan. 24: Town Hall Community Room, Braselton

•Wednesday, Jan. 25: Jackson EMC, Jefferson.

•Thursday, Jan. 26: Hamilton Mill United Methodist Church, Dacula.

All forums will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.

Those unable to attend the forums may provide their comments through an online survey at www.nghs.com/riverplace. For more information, call 770-219-3840.

This will definitely forever change the 2-Lane Hwy 211 with its rolling tree lined hills, smaller business areas and quiet homes area into a Major Boulevard of Traffic and congestion...

I guess this is what Braselton wanted.

Realistically, The Hospital itself doesn't care about those quality of life issues to the neighborhood, they want to harvest the quality of money available in this growing area, so they dumped the less profitable Lanier Park Hospital in Gainesville and fought for the greener pastures of Barrow, North Gwinnett & Jackson, while staying literally yards within Hall County boundaries (so they still have Hall Co politicians to support anything they want to do) So what happens to this corridor is not their concern.

The Braseltonians love the idea anyway; impact is not a concern as everything in the "Annexation Town" is Brand New anyway.. They annex around all the undesirables who were here before the town when Annex Nuts.

The only 4 lane hwy in Barrow Co is 316. It takes forever to get anywhere because of the coffee stirrers they call roads in Barrow we drive on. The times are a changing, Hwy 211 is a major route to Hwy 85 / Hwy 53. If anything it will prompt more effort to get the "Winder Bypass" going, but 211 will still need to be updated. It is a 'highway' and needs to operate as one with medians and turn lanes. Good for another business that may attact some civilization through the county, wo we can all gauk at them and point out their flashy cars and clean clothes.

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